SEGA announces that Hatsune Miku: Project Diva series has shipped over 1 million units


SEGA has announced that the Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA series on PSP has shipped over 1 million units. That would mean this is counting sales for Hatsune Miku Project DIVA, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd, and Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend. To celebrate this milestone SEGA has announced they will be distributing commemorative pins to 390 randomly chosen fans that fill out the survey on the game’s site. The survey will run from April 12th to April 27th.

I guess that new Hatsune Miku game being teased as “Next Hatsune Miku Project Diva” shouldn’t come as a shock seeing how the series did over a million in Japan. Some might argue and say it’s three different titles. Actually that is rather good for the series being a niche Japan only series. Not to mention the Extend game is just a re-release of Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd.

Japanese Charts: Yakuza on PSP debuts at #2, Shining Blade still charting


The weekly Japanese charts came in and have Black Panther 2: Yakuza Ashura Chapter debuting at number 2. The Black Panther series is a spin-off of the Yakuza series on the PSP. This is the second title. Unlike console versions of Yakuza, the handheld version features its own playable main character and not Kazuma Kiryu. The game sold 104,937 units. The game came out March 22nd and since the chart ended on the 25th, the game only got 3 days of sales counted. We should be seeing it next week.

The second SEGA title to chart this week was another PSP game, this one Shining Blade. It’s funny actually, Shining Blade came out a week ago and charted at number 2 when it was out selling 122,257 units. So yeah, Shining Blade debuted better than Black Panther 2. This week Shining Blade dropped to number 10 and pushed an additional 19,032 units. So far Shining Blade has sold  141,289 units.

Not bad at all. I guess SEGA was in the right when they decided to still release PSP games in Japan instead of moving development to Playstation Vita.

Yakuza: Black Panther 2 demo released on Japanese PSN store

SEGA is releasing Yakuza: Black Panther 2 in Japan this next Thursday, so to promote it SEGA has released a demo of the game on the Japanese PSN. The demo has the introduction to the story, hostess bar sections, ability to explore a chunk of Osaka and even test out the fighting system by beating the game’s first boss. This game is released exclusively for PSP in Japan. No western release is planned.

Can’t play the demo because you don’t own a PSP or can’t be bothered? Well we got you covered, hit the jump and you can seen over a dozen screens from the PSN demo. Enjoy!

The next Shining Project might end up being a browser game

 

Well, remember back when I said there was going to be a teaser for the next Shining project in the retail version of Shining Blade? Guess what? Some people have gotten their copies of Shining Blade in advance. So what is the next Shining project? It would seem that it is a browser game that plays like Shining Hearts with farming elements added on to it. Shining Hearts seems sort of perfect for this, what with it letting you raise your own pet.

The Shining Blade twitter also called this announcement the “biggest thing in the series history” for t he last week or so. Is this their big news? Its hard to tell since SEGA as also shared details on a Shining Hearts anime, which will be airing in April.  That isn’t all, there will be a Shining series costume sets in Phantasy Star Universe.

 

SEGA’s K-On! After School Live joins the list of PSP games remastered for PS3

[Above: Original PSP version of the game ]

If you have not heard of the PSP Remastered thing that Sony announced last year, they basically enhance the visuals and sound of PSP games and put them on PS3. One of the first games announced was Monster Hunter Portable 3rd and it looks like a nice upgrade.

So now SEGA is jumping on the train and announced their first title for the PSP remastered program. K-On! After School Live!! HD Ver. Yep, not a Valkyria Chronicles game, something that PS3 fans have been wanting for a long time.  Why give us that, you guys want some HD underage anime girls.

 
The game is set to be released in early summer. Will support stereoscopic 3D, multiplayer via Adhoc Party and game-sharing with the original PSP title.

Shining Blade gets two Japanese commercials

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx5_pQ00tvo

Above is the 30 second spot that will be airing over in Japan. Seems that SEGA is going to go out and promote this PSP title, even though the Vita just came out. Do you think it was a good idea to skip the Vita for now?

Hit the jump for the second spot, this one shorter at 15 seconds.

Yes Virginia, you can play most Sega PSP games on your Vita!….If you have a PS3.

Hello fellow Vita owners and congrats on your purchase! Now, if you’re a Sega fanboy like me, you may be dissapointed in the selection of Sega games available for PSP through the Vita store. There’s Crush for $4.99 and nothing else. You’re probably thinking “Is that all of the PSP games compatible with my Vita?” Well, the answer is…no! There are a ton more PSP games that work with the Vita that for some reason are not on their store. This includes almost all Sega PSP games with one huge exception. Keep reading to find out how!

SEGA is already working on the next Shining project

SEGA seems to be pushing the Shining series as much as possible, so much so that they tweeted an announcement on their Shining Blade twitter account. What was it? Well, a hint on the next Shining game will be inside of Shining Blade’s package.

So what is the announcement? We don’t know, we will have to wait till the game comes out on March 15th in Japan. If it was Capcom, i’d wager it was the announcement of “Ultimate Shining Blade”.

Black Panther 2 to feature lots of cats


Are you a cat lover? So are lots of Japanese people it seems. Did you know in Japan they have such a thing as ‘Cat Cafes’?  In Black Panther 2, you will be looking for Tsukahara who runs the fighting tournaments, but before you can enter he will force you to find his 102 cats. Pictured above is the new mission revealed by SEGA.

Talking about collecting, you can also collect sexy cards that if you put together in the right order create a sexy lady. That’s right, cats and wank materiel in one game? It does have it all.

 

Valkyria Chronicles 2: World Artworks Book is coming to America

Valkyria Chronicles has some amazing art, so its good to see the Japanese artbooks get American releases. This is going to be the second Valkyria Chronicles artbook that publisher Udon has published in America. The first art book released had art from the first title, this new one is going to be based on the PSP sequel.

If you guys want to pre-order the art book, you can do so on Amazon. The book is listed for $31.24, with a release date of April 10th, 2012.

Toshihiro Nagoshi stars in Black Panther 2 ad, tells all men to play his game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=327MNKMQyEI
Toshihiro Nagoshi always said that the Black Panther PSP games was about aggression and being a man. He has decided to use the same idea for the sequel, Black Panther 2: Yakuza Asura Chapter. Who better to tell the men at home to play the new Black Panther than the most manliest man Nagoshi knows? That’s right, himself.

First gameplay trailer of SEGA’s Shining Blade released

SEGA has finally shown gameplay segments for their up and coming Playstation Portable exclusive Shining Blade. Starring several characters that have appeared in the recent Shining games, Shining Blade looks to build upon Valkyria Chronicles BLiTZ system with the titles very own Concerto system. The trailer showcases the characters (Ranging from humans to mystical creatures) towns, the battlefields, enemies and even bosses. Unfortunately SEGA has no plans to bring this title over, but for those willing to port the title seem set to play another enjoyable Shining game. The title is set to launch in Japan on March 15th 2012.

[Thanks Suzuki Yu for the tip!]

Shining Blade – Animated Opening

It’s a sorry state of affairs when a new Shining title is announced and I’m not excited in the slightest, but that has been the case for almost every announcement since the series was rebooted back in the early 00’s.

Shining Blade may not be the Shining Force 4 I’ve been waiting for but it has certainly gained my interest. It has been said that Shining Blade will take many cues from Sega’s other big SRPG series Valkyria Chronicles. It’ll use the same canvas style graphics engine and similar game play mechanics. This is already a huge step up from the horrible D-list Action-RPGs from a few years back.

This animated intro is quite nice too but I’m still having one big problem and that is the sheer number of half dressed woman clogging up the roster. Where are the quirky dwarves, centaurs, birdmen and the rest made the series stand out in the first place? Personally I don’t care if they add a bunch of skanky girls but don’t get rid of the characters I like to do it…

Oh well, I’m cautiously optimistic this could be the game changer in terms of game play, it’s coming to the PSP and probably wont leave Japan. Stay tuned kids!

Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary gets PSP demo


Everyone seems to be going crazy today for Sonic Generation, it is out in the US if you didn’t know. But what about the other franchise celebrating 20 years? Puyo Puyo? Sadly we won’t be getting the 20th Anniversary game in the West, but that isn’t going to stop you from at least trying it.

If you log into your Japanese PSN account, you can now download the Puyo Puyo 20th Anniversary demo. You will get to try out four rule sets: Puyo Puyo Sun, Puyo Puyo Fever, Active, and Pair Puyo. Pair Puyo is new and exclusive to this title; it allows you to play 2vs2 with shared lives.

In the end you will always be able to import it. The game is coming out December 15th in Japan for PSP, Wii and 3DS. The full version will have over 20 rule sets to choose from.

[Source: Siliconera]